Sunday, April 11, 2010

The Power of God on Earth

(word of warning: I do apologize that whenever I write a post about things gospel related they are so lengthly)

The "winter" semester of BYUI has ended. Evan gets a week off before he starts another semester, we finally get to hang out with a set of friends who constantly had homework, and alas, the snow has melted! (for now)However, this time also brings about moving for several ward members. The pro of having an all student ward of all newlyweds is amazing. We all can relate so much to each other, we are all pretty much in the same stage of life. But the mighty big con of it is the constant turnover.Every semester at least half of the ward leaves and is replaced with new members.This Friday a few families that we have grown quite fond of are leaving, and starting the next chapter of their lives. Its a very bittersweet emotion, because we get to fond of each others company and friendship, but we all are aware that at some point we must(MUST! lol) leave Rexburg and continue on somewhere else.Today we got many new bishopric counselors, and whole new relief society and elders quorum presidencies. In Relief Society we had the opportunity to have the new presidency set apart in front of all of us.Which brings me to the point of my blog (sorry for the extensive intro)

I cannot get over how amazing the priesthood is. Every time I receive or witness a blessing, I am just amazed at what is happening. Many times, things in the church become relatively...ordinary. We partake of the sacrament every Sunday, and at times may forget the importance of the ordinance. If we don't remember the purpose of scripture study and daily prayer, they may simply become tasks, rather than us doing all that we can to learn and listen. I can imagine blessings becoming like that for some people. I imagine that, even after 20 years of being a member, the priesthood and the use of it seems so new to me because of the lack of blessings I had growing up.This is NOT a post to make others look bad, or to make it look like I pity myself.I am merely pointing out that I only remember few occasions that involved fathers blessings, and I don't remember ever being sick enough to have the need of a healing blessing. Therefore, besides my patriarchal blessing, I can only remember 2 blessings that I have ever received before I got married. Since I have been married, I have had 3 blessings. The first one that Evan ever gave me was also the first one he had ever given. These experiences are the foundation of my testimony of the Priesthood. Evan is not the most confident in church related things. In his youth, he only blessed the sacrament twice, never had a leadership calling, and did not serve a mission. I would imagine that every young man is nervous with his newly-received priesthood, Evan just happens to be the only young man that I have ever seen at that time in his life.Towards the end of last year, I had to switch medications for my bipolar disorder. I had to slowly go off of my first medication while slowly building up my second. The new medication took a bit to fully kick in, so there was about a week or week and a half where I was hardly being medicated at all. I can honestly say that it was the hardest week, emotionally, that I have ever endured in my life. I wont go into the details of my feelings, but one night we had just gotten home from our friends house and I was low, low, low. Evan went somewhere real quick, either to a neighbors or to get the mail or something. While he was gone, I started to pray, which lead to a LOT of crying. When Evan finally returned and heard me crying, he thought that someone had died. Though Evan was obviously aware of my struggle at that time, I did not share my specific thoughts and feelings. I didn't even tell him I had been praying; I simply asked him for a blessing.He did not hesitate. I sat down and he gave me a blessing using the Priesthood of God. He said things that were DIRECT ANSWERS to things that I had just been praying about moments before. He gave assurance to doubts I had about that myself that I had never shared to any other person on this Earth. And as he did this, his voice did not shake. He was voice was confident, soothing, and full of love. Besides the incredible feeling of having my thoughts so directly answered, I was amazed that Evan was able to perform his first blessing with such ease. These were the thoughts and feelings that I had today as the women of my ward were set apart in their callings. I think it is absolutely incredible that worthy men can hold and use the power of God for our benefit. I have listened to the words of my Heavenly Father come out of my husband's mouth as he righteously used his priesthood. WHAT A BLESSING. It absolutely astonishes me that I am blessed enough to have that in my life, and am able to witness it so often. What a miracle. I am so thankful!!!<3

1 comment:

i admire you so much. you have such a wonderful gratitude for the gospel. the priesthood never ceases to amaze me and it is such a blessing to have that link in our homes and marriages with our Heavenly Father.

ps- we miss you guysand we had Thai a few weeks agoand totally wanted you guys there :)

Everyday I learn something new. I am constantly striving to learn to have more purpose, diligence, and faith. I am trying to be able to look back on each week, month, year and think, "Well this is definitely the best one so far."